10 Mardi Gras Books for Preschoolers

Mardi Gras is just around the corner and it’s one of my favorite holidays to celebrate being that I was born and raised in New Orleans!

For those of you who may want to learn more about this super fun celebration, I’ve put together this list of Mardi Gras books for preschoolers! They are fun, bright and colorful, and cultural to what all those who celebrate Mardi Gras experience!

Come along on this colorful and educational ride through the Mardi Gras traditions of New Orleans! In addition to reinforcing the letters of the alphabet, Mardi Gras ABCs will keep your child entertained with vivid illustrations and clever rhymes.

Get ready to stomp and chomp to that mambo beat! When carnival time rolls into New Orleans, these hip dinosaurs want to boogie on down. Iguanodon wiggles to the music of a marching band, while Zigongosaurus dances zydeco and Pterodactyal swoops into the crowd.

The south’s favorite flying alligator, Gaston, travels to New Orleans to get a close-up look at the excitement and pageantry that characterise Mardi Gras. En route, Gaston drops in on Courir de Mardi Gras and fasi-do-do in rural South Louisiana.

This fun book has a unique twist on the classic, Gingerbread Man story. It’s filled with fun New Orleans culture and adventure. It’s a great resource for teachers and parents to reinforce repetition to young children, and introduce new cultural traditions.

This story follows two young children, Erin and Nathan, who live far away from New Orleans. They are visiting the big city with their parents and grandparents and seeing their very first Mardi Gras parade. They are wearing costumes their grandmother made so they are as colorful as other parade goers are. They hear the big marching bands, Dixieland jazz and Cajun Music. They smell spicy foods – crawfish pie, jambalaya, red beans and rice. They learn to catch beads, doubloons and other favors thrown by the masked riders from atop the huge, exotic floats.

We love this story because it’s a true account of Ruby Rose as she celebrates Mardi Gras. If you’ve ever visited New Orleans at Mardi Gras, you’ll be in awe at all the beautiful blossomed “Mardi Gras Trees” with hundreds of beads dangling from their branches. The author of this story grew up in New Orleans, and still lives there today.

Through months of darkness and sadness the people “wished that things were like before.” And with a single drum beat on Bourbon Street, and then another, and another, the music came back to New Orleans, better than ever! Children and parents alike will love this story about the healing power of music. A portion of the proceeds from the sale of this book will be donated to the New Orleans Musicians Assistance Foundation.

For years, children have enjoyed twisting broken Mardi Gras beads into animal figurines. The most popular animal to make is the dog. Various groups like Cub Scouts and Brownies make the little bead dogs and sell them for fundraising activities. In the spirit of this tradition, Haydel’s Bakery has created a rendering of the old time bead dog, jazzed up for the 21st century. This story is so much fun and the illustrations are very bright and beautiful. This is my son’s favorite Mardi Gras book!

Erica Leggiero

Erica Leggiero, M.Ed. has been working and teaching in the field of early childhood education for over 7 years. Erica is currently the director and teacher at a Preschool Enrichment Program in her area. Erica believes that young children learn best through play and exploration, and she is constantly looking for new and creative ways to incorporate learning through play. She embraces this belief in all of the activities she creates in her preschool classroom, and loves sharing them here on her blog. Erica has also co-authored the book, "Learn With Play" with other kid bloggers in the preschool field.

Thank you so much for a list of preschool Mardi Gras books. I have had my own in home daycare for 37 years and we try to celebrate numerous holidays whenever we can . We do crafts and I always put out books on the special day. I haven’t ever seen Mardi Gras books for preschool. This is fantastic for my kids..